Hours later, a deafening
blast and a flash of blinding light caused him to bolt upright in his bed.
Sweat poured off his skin and his head pounded. He looked around the room
and tried to steady his heart. Within seconds, he knew nothing had happened.
The shock that woke him was only in his mind ... He groped his way through
the blackness into the bath and flicked the wall switch. The bright light
made him squint hard. After splashing cold water on his face, he looked in
the medicine cabinet for aspirin and found none. He took his jeans off a
hook and stepped into them, cursing as his foot caught and he almost toppled
over the commode ...
Inside
the building, he looked at the directory and found the suite number for Dr.
Joseph Reynolds. After a moment of hesitation, he stepped into the elevator
...
Joe sat in a chair across
from Nate and picked up a file from the table next to him. “This is the copy
of your medical record that you sent me. I understand why you didn’t want it
to come directly from Bethesda. When you walked through that door, you
looked as though you’d rather face a firing squad than a psychiatrist.”
Nate propped one long leg on
his knee. “You’re very observant, but don’t take it personally.”
Joe smiled. “You aren’t alone
in your aversion to head doctors. Most men dread their first appointment
with me more than a prostate exam. I never look forward to those.”
“Given a choice, Joe, I’d
rather just bend over and be done with all this.”
... Joe listened intently and
took notes. When Nate paused, the silence hung heavy in the room ... Nate
stared at the bottle in his hand and watched the water move inside as he
slowly circled the bottle in the air. "I don't know if this problem is
related." He thought to himself ... This has to be a man’s worst
admission.
Eve
takes a good long look at Nate
Nate had just stepped out
of the shower and picked up a towel when he heard the doorbell ... After
tossing the towel aside, he grabbed sweatpants off a hook and quickly pulled
them on. He tied the waist cord loosely as he trotted down the steps and to
the front door. When he yanked open the door, Eve was looking down at the
step, preparing to turn around. She found herself staring at his bare feet.
Then she lifted her gaze to long legs covered in worn-out gray sweats
hanging loosely on his hips. She saw a trail of soft black hair grow up from
the waistband and cover a firm, flat abdomen. The hair disappeared a few
inches above, revealing smooth skin over a muscular torso. The trail of hair
resumed a narrow path upward between his ribcage and ended its journey
across a powerful chest. Sporadic drops of water clung to flesh and
follicles. Her eyes took in broad shoulders, powerful arms, a smiling mouth,
and a disheveled crop of dark, wet hair.
After Wade
Simmons attacks Eve
Nate pushed through the
door of a small, private waiting room. He saw Eve and her sister sitting on
a brown vinyl sofa looking down at magazines. His heart rate slowed for the
first time since he got the call. Then Eve looked up at him and her battered
face made him think of murder. A mass of bruises covered her cheekbones. Her
lips had been split open and were puffy. The flesh around one eye was dark
and swollen. Her neck revealed the handprints of the man who had choked her
...
Like
many other mornings, boats slowly glided past the weathered wooden pier that
juts out from the O’Connor property. Shrimp trawlers returned from the sea,
decks laden with early-morning catches, gulls trailing behind screeching
loudly, diving for the chum washed from the boat. Eve always enjoyed the
morning view from her bedroom veranda. But today she stood with her arms
gripped tightly across her body and tears streaming down her face. She saw
the flash of a silver mullet jump two feet out of the water to avoid being
eaten by a larger fish. Eve felt like a hapless mullet that had already been
swallowed.
Eve
lashes out at Nate
Eve had a vague recollection
of Nate helping her to and from the bathroom, bringing her water, and
handing her pills after she had eased her sore body onto the mattress. "How
did I get into bed last night?"
"I carried
you there."
Her
disposition rejected the idea of tenderness from any man, including him. She
said with cynicism, "You missed your calling―you should have been a nurse
instead of a soldier."
... Nate
kept his voice level. "A soldier's been known to play medic when one of his
buddies his hurt." He turned his back to her and began breaking eggs into a
bowl.
Watching
him beat the eggs made her mood even worse. "It looks as though soldiers do
just about anything they want. I see you've taken over my household."
Nate's
eyes iced when he turned back to her. He strained to keep his voice low and
calm. "If I had done everything I wanted to do, Simmons wouldn't have gotten
to you." His control slipped, and his voice grew louder. "I wanted to help,
to make sure something like this didn't happen!" The moment he said it, Nate
regretted it. Eve didn't need his guilt dumped on her. The apology was on
his tongue, but she cut him off.
"Oh! Here we
go―now this is all about you. Why do men assume that everything that happens
to a woman, good or bad, revolves around them?"...
Nate goes 'inside' as Buck Walters
The next
morning a very large guard banged his nightstick on the bars of the cell. He
had ebony skin, a shaved head, over two hundred pounds of solid muscle, and
a cruel expression. The guard bellowed, “Walters, you come with me—now!”
Buck and Wade exchanged looks as Buck reluctantly got off his bunk and moved
to the entrance of the cell. The guard forced him to walk in front, shoving
the hard stick into his lower back, prodding him to move more quickly. He
escorted Buck to a small cinder-block room with a steel door, no windows,
and a single drab, dented metal table. No one could see or hear what
happened inside the four walls. When the guard slammed the door, it locked
automatically.
Devon McLean
joins the fray
... they heard tires spit
gravel as a pickup truck with a crew cab pulled into the parking lot. Nate
and Devon watched through the window as four large, overweight men in
hunting gear got out of the truck. Two of them showed great interest in the
South Carolina van parked in front, while two others took a leak at the edge
of the parking lot. The men moved around the van, murmuring to each other
for several minutes.
“All four together wouldn’t
make the sharpest pencil in the cup,” Devon commented.
“Is it hunting season?” Nate
asked.
“Small game only.”
“Who would wander around the
woods while guys like that carry loaded guns?”
Dev shrugged. “Ask the vice
president.”
Nate laughed aloud.
They watched as the hunters
came through the door and looked at them. One asked, “You two belong to that
van outside?"
Devon remembered the printing
on the side of the van: Charleston County Department of Corrections. He
responded, “Why? You lookin’ for your momma?”
Nate rolled his eyes and
Devon muttered his regret. They looked at each other and drew the same
conclusion… both of them looked like felons on the run.
Dev murmured to Nate, “You
carrying?”
He shook his head. “You?”
“Who’d have thought?”
Nate spoke to the hunters.
“Just passing through.”
Another hunter replied,
“Looks like you’re running from the law.”
Devon responded, “Sure, pal,
that’s why we’re driving around in a paddy wagon.” The absurdity was lost on
the group. Nate rolled his eyes again.
The hunter looked at his
friends. “I’ll bet there’s a good size reward for these two!”
Refuge on Hilton Head Island
An hour later, they landed on Hilton Head Island, walked past a striped
lighthouse, and followed the signs for a trolley. Dozens of tourists milled
past shops, and a long line waited at the trolley stop. Both men were glad
for their anonymity among the crowd. Soon the foursome stepped off the
trolley near a cluster of red and blue wooden buildings. Eve scanned the
small village ... it reminded her of an old New England fishing town.
Pleasure boats floated in the marina, shops and restaurants occupied the
two-story buildings, and a friendly outdoor bar took center stage on a large
deck that overlooked the waterway. Large logs burned in an outdoor fire pit.
Bartenders served drinks to the people gathered around on stools, many of
whom appeared to be locals.
Devon spotted a small wooden sign indicating the location of the local inn
... Nate took a position at the bar where he could watch the activity around
them ...
The gray,
weathered house was one of many duplexes that sat on the farthest point from
the island's bridge. From the rear of the house, Devon could see Daufuskie
and several other barrier islands. Braddock Cove sliced through marshes to
his right, and the tides of the Calibogue Sound flowed swiftly in front and
to his left. Nate and Eve walked up the beach bordering the Calibogue Sound
... Soon all four were settled inside the home, away from the scrutiny of
the outside world and those who might want to harm them.